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CAMH: Investors proud to attach names to their donations

The new and improving Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is attracting major, and very public, investors—a rare occurrence for a mental health facility

'The leadership that some of these donors have shown has really helped to make that transition,' says CAMH Foundation CEO Darrell Louise Gregersen. (STEPHANIE LAKE / FOR THE TORONTO STAR)

By Alex DerrySPECIAL TO THE STAR

Sat., June 9, 2012

A walk through the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s rapidly transforming 27-acre campus on Queen Street West will reveal something rarely seen in mental health treatment facilities: state-of-the-art buildings named after prominent Canadian families.

“There was such a stigma around mental illness that people didn’t want to be associated with philanthropic giving [to mental health facilities],” says Darrell Louise Gregersen, CEO of the CAMH Foundation. “All of the things that were keeping people from saying, ‘I need help’ were the same things that kept people from saying, ‘I want to give help.’”

Negative attitudes towards mental health ran so deep that potential donors would hesitate to publicly support treatment facilities because of how it would be perceived. “People wouldn’t dream of putting their name on a [CAMH] building because they thought everyone would assume they had a mental illness,” Gregersen says.

That all changed in 2006, when the Labatt and Beamish families each made donations of $5 million. Two wings in the new Intergenerational Wellness Centre will bear the names of each family, joining other CAMH facilities such as the Carlo Fidani Family Building, the Peter and Shelagh Godsoe Building and the McCain Building.

Heather Beamish acknowledged the factor stigma plays in preventing public support of mental health: “There’s no cute little kid on a billboard asking you to support CAMH,” Beamish said at the time.

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While the CAMH Foundation seeks out donations like any other hospital foundation—by approaching potential donors and establishing strong ties with the Canadian business community—what sets CAMH’s vision apart from existing mental health and addiction facilities is its accessibility and place in the community.

“CAMH is conceptualizing itself as part of the community, not separate from it,” Gregersen says. “We want people to be a part of the CAMH campus.”

Not only will greater community involvement help the cause of challenging the stigmas surrounding mental illness, but it is also a crucial part of helping CAMH’s patients reintegrate during and after their treatment.

Last April, Margaret McCain donated $10 million to mental health initiatives for children and youth at CAMH, the largest such donation in Canadian history.

When the donation was announced, McCain—the author of several reports on early childhood learning—explained her motivation for the generous gift. “These are areas of medicine that have been underfunded and misunderstood,” she said. “We are very happy that these serious deficits are being corrected.”

The McCain family had already donated $2 million to CAMH in 2009.

Michael McCain, the CEO of Maple Leaf Foods (and Margaret’s son), who has volunteered with the CAMH Foundation, described the impact such public donations. “Several CAMH patients told me that the simple act of putting a name on that building made them feel legitimized and accepted in society,” he said. “It was the first time they felt society understood their illness and was willing to support them.”

And just last month, Judy and Larry Tanenbaum joined the growing tide of generous public donors to CAMH’s redevelopment with the announcement of a $19-million collaborative fund with the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation to fund the Tanenbaum Centre for Pharmacogenetics.

While the Tanenbaums have a long history of public philanthropy in the city – Larry Tanenbaum serves as chairman for Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2007 for his philanthropic contributions – it was the first time that the Tanenbaums had given their name to a building.

“Larry told me that CAMH, the name and the money are all very important,” Gregersen says.

The CAMH still has a lot of work to do before ribbons are cut on its new facilities – the redevelopment phase will be about 40-per-cent complete this June. But the level of public support has surpassed expectations. The CAMH Foundation announced last May that it had exceeded the $100 million milestone for its Transforming Lives Campaign to the tune of $108 million.

“I think we’re really at a turning point, and the leadership that some of these donors have shown has really helped to make that transition,” Gregersen says. “The transformation has been remarkable.”

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